1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved gusset for use in fire-blocking a pillow-top mattress. This gusset provides additional fire blocking to provide a pillow-top mattress with improved performance when tested according to Technical Bulletin 603 of the State of California.
2. Description of Prior Art
The State of California has led the drive to regulate and reduce the flammability of mattresses and mattress sets in an attempt to reduce the number of lives lost in household, hotel, and institutional fires. In particular, the Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation of the Department of Consumer Affairs of the State of California issued Technical Bulletin 603 “Requirements and Test Procedure for Resistance of a Residential Mattress/Box Spring Set to a Large Open-Flame” to quantify the flammability performance of mattress sets.
Mattresses are sold by a consumer's initial impression of support and comfort and therefore mattresses normally contain, in addition to any supporting foam or steel springs in the mattress body, surface cushioning material made from light density fibrous battings or foams, or a combination of both, that provide a surface cushioning effect, but can be very flammable.
The mattress design referred to in the industry as a pillow-top mattress has an additional cushion or pillow attached to the mattress core to provide even more cushioning material. In addition, to emphasize the pillow look of the mattress, the pillow is attached to the mattress body inboard of the edge or side border of the mattress body, giving the mattress a true “pillow-top” look. By attaching the cushion or pillow in this manner, the side of the mattress has an area of indention, where the bottom face of the pillow or cushion projects over the mattress body. The joint between the mattress body and the pillow is typically covered with a fabric gusset. The fabric gusset normally extends from the out board upper seam of the mattress body, across the upper surface of the mattress body to the point where the pillow contacts the mattress body, and then up the underside of the pillow surface to the outboard edge of the pillow.
This additional surface area of the gusset creates a major problem in passing the California test of the fire blocking performance of the mattress that has not been addressed previously. During the test, the flame jet from the side burner impacts the vertical surface of the side border of the mattress and the rising heat and flames tend to concentrate in the indentation between the pillow and the mattress body, causing the underside of the pillow to experience more intense heat and flame than the vertical side of the mattress border, resulting in the failure of the otherwise adequately fire blocked mattress.
What is needed, therefore, is a method of increasing the fire blocking in the gusset between the pillow and mattress to compensate for the more intense flame experience in this area.